Weekly Blog Article By A Child's World Developmental Centers VP, Ron Seidman - Is Your Child Safe from Germs?
There are over five thousand licensed child care centers in Pennsylvania. Surprisingly only about seven percent are considered to be high quality. So why is this important? The standards for quality as set forth by the state are based on The Environmental Rating Scale (ERS). The ERS was developed at the University of North Carolina and has become an international standard. It is a very complex instrument that focuses on a variety of issues from interactivity between teachers and students, types of learning materials including diversity among them and physical maintenance such as hand washing. This brings us to the focus of this article, hand washing.
Now, I am not one who is a germ phobic however in this season of the flu and the scare of H1N1, aka Swine Flu, it is important that children in child care or any group setting wash their hands at key times throughout the day. This may be difficult for staff at a center to accomplish but is crucial to keeping germs and illness to a minimum. The key to having a quality center according to the standard is having a well trained staff. A child care center may have the look of a well maintained building but is the staff doing all that is necessary to assure exposure to germs is kept to a minimum. Chances are that if the childcare center your child attends does not participate in the Pennsylvania Stars program or if it is not at the 4 star level, they are not. The reason that ninety three percent of child care centers have not achieved the highest rating is because it is very difficult but not impossible. Parents of children of Pre-K or Kindergarten age who have their child in a public school setting may find it interesting to know that public schools are exempt from the stringent standards to which licensed centers must adhere. To find out more about the quality of the program your child is in just Google "PA Keystone Stars."
With three locations in and around Newtown, Pennsylvania, A Child’s World offers early education and daycare center services to families with young children. To learn more about our child care facilities, please call us at (215) 519-1993.
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